PVM HC Barb: BvC or BvB?

[d00m2k]

PVM HC Barb: BvC or BvB?

There's been so much talk about PVP and Barbs lately that I'm having a tough time finding up to date advice on making a PVM Barb. Believe it or not, the only character I've NEVER made is a Barb. I've been messing around in single player, trying different builds, and been loving one.

First off, I play HC. Second, I'm not "rich" at all. Nevertheless, I can get my hands on some good equipment like Enigma. Third, I'd like to have some MF on the char for doing Meph/Baal/Pit runs. Fourth, it's important that I am able to help people (rushing, boss killing).

So what would be the best type of Barb to make? From what I've learned messing around with one in single player:

20 WW
20 BO
20 Mastery (which, I'm not sure)

These ones cannot be changed. I find them imperative and fun. So that leaves me with about 40 points. I can either max 2 other skills, or put a combo of points in.

Option 1: 20 Leap, 20 Shout. I liked leap A LOT in when solo'ing. Sometimes when you get big groups of guys and WW through them, you hit each one once but it takes tons of passes to kill any. With Leap, however, I could Leap a few times, seperate the pack, and kill stragglers quickly, taking less damage and killing the pack faster. It also helped a lot when I needed to use Beserk to kill PIs: I could leap to the PIs, knock back the melee enemies, use Beserk, then short leap again while my defense is 0 to knock back the melees again. 20 Shout helps with the 1-pt wonder Beserk as well.

Option 2: 20 Shout, 20 Iron Skin. More defense, less being hit. Again Shout helps with Beserk damage. Probably a better build for 2 weapons.

Option 3: something I don't see?


Now, what about weapons? From what I gather from PVP, axes are the way to go. Should I go axe + shield, or 2 axes? I had a tough time telling from single player which to go (probably because I had uber gear). It sure took a lot longer to kill things with a shield, and I leached a lot less. Plus, don't you hit more with 2 weapons?

Anyways, help me out! I appreciate it.

 

[d00m2k]

I've been thinking about it, and I might want to have the points into dex for max block. It's imperative that I am able to help people, and being able to tele hell baal or meph would be a great advantage. It also could be of great help in WSK when OK's spawn, I'm cursed with IM and need to gtfo of dodge.

 

[avm]

Well if you go with 20 shout you have the standard WW build, which is quite good. Realistically, you're not going to have 20 more points unless you play to level 99, so may as well stop the planning here. If you don't have great gear, you could also put a couple (maybe 5 total) points in Natural Resists, which would help out a fair bit.

20 + 20 + 20 + 20 + 2 1pters in warcries + 4 1pters in masteries + 6 1pters in combat skills = 92 points = done at level 81, with 18 more points left. A couple in NR and you're up to 85-86, at which point levelling up gets a tad bit more time consuming. I really like your leap option though, it's an underrated pvm skill and would be great in hardcore.

Btw, watch out for manaburn OK packs... if you get manaburned while swinging with berserk, it changes to a normal attack midswing. Happened to me once in CS - got shot with a manaburning pack from offscreen, while the pack I was fighting IM'ed me. One of those totally-out-of-the blue deaths, from "everything is fine" to "please collect your cube" in about .1 seconds... not really very preventable That kind of stuff keeps me from HC, I'd break my computer if that happened there!

 

[Uvatha]

That kind of stuff keeps me from HC, I'd break my computer if that happened there!

Lost a level 75 barb on HC single player due to the fire enchanted bug, while doing countes to get the runes to upgrade an armor. That was my first and only HC char. Planned a couple of others but never got past level 10~15, even though they are still alive.

I dont know the way a HC should be built, but IMHO max block for barbs is overkill in PVM, most of the times. If you are following a BvC built, have in mind that this was designed to play PvP.

 

[d00m2k]

Well if you go with 20 shout you have the standard WW build, which is quite good. Realistically, you're not going to have 20 more points unless you play to level 99, so may as well stop the planning here. If you don't have great gear, you could also put a couple (maybe 5 total) points in Natural Resists, which would help out a fair bit.

20 + 20 + 20 + 20 + 2 1pters in warcries + 4 1pters in masteries + 6 1pters in combat skills = 92 points = done at level 81, with 18 more points left. A couple in NR and you're up to 85-86, at which point levelling up gets a tad bit more time consuming. I really like your leap option though, it's an underrated pvm skill and would be great in hardcore.

Btw, watch out for manaburn OK packs... if you get manaburned while swinging with berserk, it changes to a normal attack midswing. Happened to me once in CS - got shot with a manaburning pack from offscreen, while the pack I was fighting IM'ed me. One of those totally-out-of-the blue deaths, from "everything is fine" to "please collect your cube" in about .1 seconds... not really very preventable That kind of stuff keeps me from HC, I'd break my computer if that happened there!

It can be tough, and often times after losing a character I feel like going to softcore. But, the game is simply a different experience in HC. You sweat. You feel nervous. You question your actions. Your heart skips a beat. Teleporting through Hell to the throne room while 7 people wait is nerve wracking. It's the sense of excitement that seperates Diablo2 from every other game you can play. "The greater the challenge, the greater the triumph."

Anyways, I'm still having trouble deciding on which skills to use. You're right about not getting to 99, usually I peak out around 85 - 87. The best choice would probably be Shout/Iron Skin then.

I wonder, can I teleport with high armor and no shield? We'll have to find out...

As for weapons, what would be ideal? I need to know for which mastery to put points into. Axes for (2) BoTD axes or something? I'm really unfamiliar with Barbs and melee combos.

 

[avm]

I would recommend Shout since it'll synergize duration on BO and BC, and offers the same armor benefit as Iron Skin. It also synergizes your berserk *very* nicely.

For PVM, ebotdz are probably the best choice, if you can afford them. Nice leech, damage, huge stats boost. Also, and this is just my personal preference, but I pretty much won't play with weapons that cost a lot to repair, and botd is nice for this. So, if you are reasonably sure you'll have access to a pair, axe mastery is great. Also won't have to pump dex at all unless you're planning on max block, so more life. And to top it off, they have range 3, which is as good as you're going to get w/ 1h weapons.

You could also not put any points in mastery for a while. I did this with a frenzy barb of mine when I couldn't decide, and all the way through NM I didn't miss not having mastery...

I think you'll be able to tele just fine without a shield, with a lot of health you won't go into hit recovery much (which interrupts tele), and block also interrupts it I believe. So it may actually be smoother without a shield.


I know what you mean about excitement from playing HC, but I usually play this game when I'm real tired and want to relax... so that's another reason it's definitely out for me